Two years ago, Train, a high-level assassin known as Number XIII in Chronos, left the secret society to live by his own rules. Since then, Train has been a sweeper, a bounty hunter, catching criminals and bringing them in alive. But his main mission is to find a former Chronos member who killed his best friend.
Also known as 矢吹 健太朗. He is a Japanese manga artist. His mentor was Takeshi Obata, the illustrator of Death Note, Hikaru no Go and Bakuman. Yabuki is best known for his series Black Cat which ran from 2000 to 2004 in Weekly Shōnen Jump and later adapted into an anime. Since 2004, he has only been working as illustrator to works written by other authors. Most notably on the series To Love-Ru alongside his former assistant Saki Hasemi.
This started a bit slow for me, but took off quite strong. My first thought was the main characters were going to be a bit 2-dimensional. Soon, though I was drawn into wanting to know the mystery of the Man called the Black Cat. I like the Black Cat character and look forward to finding more to read. (Of course, my library only had this one and a couple from much later in the series. I've made an ILL request for #2.)
I read the first 1/3rd last night and then read the last 2/3rds at the Doctor's office today. This last part went way too fast (in a good way)!
This was way more entertaining than I expected and I full on connected with characters, despite only knowing them a short while! I thought the first chapter was such an excellent introduction to the series and the rest of the volume did not disappoint! I would say the first few chapters are more episodic, just to get you into the world, but there soon became a plot development that I feel will span at least into the next volume. Being a sci-fi, thriller, its not a genre mix I can say I recall reading before, so it worked perfect for the #mangareadathon I'm currently taking part in and works as prompts for both a series that's been on my tbr the longest and, at a stretch, a manga out of my comfort zone. The little cat cameos were so cute and felt a little 4th wall breaking, which I oh-so enjoy. The characters were awesome, particularly our main characters Train and Sven. I really like Train and his way of life, how he was "reborn" as a stray cat, free of masters, but I can't wait until the other plot thickens with Chronos and all the conspiracies and dangers that should unleash.
Overall, this was a pleasant surprise and I'll have to run to the library to read the rest as I don't own the next volumes!
This is one of those manga I've been aware of for years and just never took the time to try it out, so I'm glad I decided to finally. This is a fairly strong start with some really interesting main characters and quite a bit of fast-paced action. It really has that early 2000's feel to it which makes it incredibly easy to fall into the groove it settles in, think something similar to Cowboy Bebop and Trigun.
Il y eu un temps, dans le monde des mangas, où il n’y avait pas beaucoup de choix dans le cadre des shonen classiques. Tout le monde avait dans sa collection soit Akira, Dragon Ball, Evangelion ou même Kenshin. Moi qui aimait faire différent (surtout que j’avais déjà tout lu ça) j’ai chercher à me procurer des mangas moins populaires, mais tout aussi bon. Je me suis donc procuré YuYu Hakusho (moins connu au québec), Fly et Yugioh. Tous des petit chef d’oeuvre moins bien connu (je vais faire une critique de Yu-gi-oH dans la prochaine année promis) et qui se relisent à merveille. Dans mes début de collectionneur de Shonen j’ai aussi ramassé Black Cat qui était à l’origine similaire à Kenshin. Détruit par la critique, peu connu du grand public, Black Cat était pour moi une trouvaille a l’origine, un underaded hidden gem. J’étais jeune et peu d’expérience en la matière, c’est pour cette raison qu’après 15 ans je me retappe toute la série de Black Cat pour en faire ma critique définitive. Est-ce que les critiques ont raison de le caller comme in navet, est-ce que ce manga aurait dû avoir un plus grand succès? He bien voici ma critique bien a moi.
Tout d’abords l’histoire, comme je l’ai dit précédemment ça ressemble un peu a Kenshin. On a un ancien assassin qui veut pu tuer des gens mais que les circonstance font qui doit se battre contre des humains monstrueux qui l’oblige a faire le choix entre tuer ou laisser vivre. Cependant la comparaison s’arrête là. Car dans l’histoire Black Cat est maintenant nettoyeur et sont but est de capturer des criminel avec l’aide de son partenaire Sven. Tout semble assez légé et intéressant jusqu’au moment où l’ancien partenaire de Black Cat appeler Creed revient foutre le bordel obligeant Black Cat a faire face à son passé et ouvrant la porte d’un violent affrontement futur où Black jouera sa liberté et sa vie.
À la base l’histoire de ce manga est carrément centré dans l’histoire classique de shonen de type personnage fort qui doit se battre avec plein de monde qui veut se faire un nom en battant le grand et gros homme légendaire puissant. On voit le même concept dan Kyo (un autre manga que je dois faire la critique), Kenshin bien sûr (meme chose critique a venir) et Seven Deadly Sins (toujours en publication). Malheureusement, Black Cat arrive pas à la cheville d’aucun de ces mangas. Oui les personnages sont intéressants, oui les dessins sont beau et voir même magnifique, mais en bout de ligne on ne s’y attache pas beaucoup. La raison est simple, Black Cat c’est d’abords et avant tout un beau manga et une histoire en second. Toutes les poses des personnages sont classe et plastique comme pas possible, mais les scène de combat s’en retrouve très peu dynamiques et a cause de ça elle en deviennent moins excitantes.
En plus, l’auteur peine beaucoup a nous pondre quoi que ce soit d’original ou de surprenant. Il y a peu de revirement de situation et pas mal tout ce qui arrive laisse un légé arrière goût de déjà-vu. Certain chroniqueurs vont même a caller le plagiat, ce que je trouve carrément ridicule. Cependant, c’est carrément du réchauffé et ça personne ne peut dire le contraire. Je suis pas quelqu’un qui se blase du réchauffé quand c’est bien fait. Mais là c’est du restant de la veille ce qui réduit considérablement le plaisir de lecture. On est jamais surpris par rien, jamais choqué par rien et au final on se retrouve avec une histoire oubliable qui ne colle pas tant. Aucun combat ne ressort comme étant intense et excitant, aucun moment du manga ne nous assoie sur le bout de notre chaise, aucun moment nous fait vivre des émotions et malheureusement aucun livre ne donne l’impression d’être rassasié. Un volume de Black Cat se lit en 30 minutes. Difficile d’en avoir pours on argent.
Comme je le disais précédement, le seul point qui ne déçois pas c’est au niveau du graphisme. Les dessins dans Black Cat son vraiment beau. En plus tous les personnages sont assez différents pour les reconnaître au premier coup d’oeil et en plus ils sont tous classe. Le charisme des personnages de Black Cat est bluffant au possible. L’auteur était clairement meilleur dessinateur que scénariste. Il le disait qu’il prenait 4 jours pour écrire l’histoire (le story board) et 2-3 jours pour dessiner. D’habitude c’est l’inverse et sur ce point c’est vraiment impressionnant. Tout d’abords sur la qualité du dessin pour qu’il soit fait si rapidement et sur la médiocrité du scénario après avoir passé autant de temps à le développer. C’est pas que l’histoire est mauvaise, mais elle est pas mal fade. Pleine de facilité ou pleine d’idées originales mais douteuses.
Même au niveau du “World Building” on fait face a des gros problèmes. L’auteur nous introduit un monde potentiellement riche avec des assassin super intéressant appelé les Numbers et on en voit que le bout de l’iceberg. On nous parle d’une super organisation appeler Chronos mais encore une fois absent de l’histoire autre que pour justifier l’histoire. Quand on commence l’histoire on se sent excité à l’idée que Black Cat va se battre contre d’autre Numbers mais en fait on aura droit qu’a des escarmouches. Non a la place on a droit a des combat contre des gens aux super-pouvoir appeler maître du Tao qui font que très peu de sens. Je ne sais pas si c’est un choix de l’éditeur ou de l’auteur, mais je crois sincèrement que le manga serait meilleur si le combat avait été contre Chronos plutôt que contre des monstres humains. Laisser la surenchère inutile et les pouvoir hors de l’histoire. Mettre des technique peté comme dans Kenshin ou voir même Kyo a place. En bout de ligne la manière utilisé a juste rendu le monde incohérent, vide et moins intéressant à lire.
Donc j’en entend déjà dire en lisant ma critique “bon c’est un navet alors”. À ceci je répondrai non et loin de là. C’est vrai que ce manga est loin d’être original, oui il copie beaucoup sur les personnages de Togashi (Hunter X Hunter, YuYu Hakusho) et oui les scènes de combat son basics. Mais, ça ne fait pas un mauvais manga pour autant. Pour preuve, j’ai dévoré 20 volumes en 7 jours malgré un horaire très chargé. C’est vrai que les livres se lisent vites en général, mais si c’était mauvais j’aurais pas lu la série si vite non plus. Black Cat est un parfait manga pour initier un nouveau lecteur au plaisir des mangas. Comme pour les jeu de société Black Cat est une “gateway” manga, accessible et facile a lire pour s’initier aux manga. Bien que réchauffé l’histoire reste quand même plaisante et même sans surprises elle est assez intéressante pour qu’on la lise de bout a bout. En plus les base du shonen (amitié, entraide et courage) y sont plus que bien représenté.
Alors pour conclure je donne 3 étoiles (3.5 en fait mais on peut pas) à Black Cat. Loin d’être le meilleur manga jamais fait et loin d’être le pire aussi. Dans le milieu donc, car même après avoir lu des tonnes de manga je trouve Black Cat encore assez intéressant pour le garder dans ma collection. Il arrive des moment où du bon réchauffé sa fait la job. Black Cat sa fait la job. Il y a meilleur mais quand il y a rien d’autre je préfère encore lire Black Cat que me taper à nouveau Pandora Heart (où tu comprend rien pendant le quart du manga). Alors fan de combat simples et bien dessinés ainsi que fan de Shonen vous devriez pas passer sur Black Cat a cause des mauvaises critiques car c’est bien meilleur que les chroniqueur peuvent laisser entrevoir et surtout que juste pour le graphisme ce manga en vaut le détour.
This book is not really a novel; it's more classified as a manga. But there is still a great plot to be had. It is about a team of bounty hunters known more formally as 'sweepers' who go about collecting their bounty. Train, the main character, used to be part of a government organization known as Kronos but for certain reasons (in which you find out later in the series) he left it and covered it up as his death. A hired thief seeks him and his partner, Sven, out to ask them to do her a favor with a reward they can't pass up. Carefree Train goes at it in his own pace. They have to infiltrate a fortress where there is secret scientific research being done in which the thief, Rinslet, wants to get the information for her client. This volume ends on a cliffhanger, as most mangas do. It's a really great series and I highly recommend it! I've read ahead in the other volumes and the plot is full and intriguing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is the story of a pair of bounty hunters, one of which is a former assassin.
The characters are all goof-balls, which makes for a fun story. This book starts with two stories that just serve to introduce the main characters and includes a few disposable characters who only appeared to go, "Black Cat! You were an assassin! Why you quit?!"
Anyway, this one takes a bit to get started, but once the ball gets rolling, it gets good.
Comic, manga Black Cat. This is book one out of 13 right now. This one isn't that good but as the story goes on the books get better and better. If you like manga/anime you should really read this. It's a great story, and it's funny.
That was a fun read. Black Cat is one of those Manga my friends told me about back in the day but back in the day it was hard to get Japanese comics in English and formatted properly so I just never had a chance to read this story before. But today at the library picking up things to read over the Thanksgiving Holiday this volume sort of jumped off the shelf and shouted READ ME - so I did.
I can see where a lot of modern Manga got some of their ideas. So while this story is solid it also gives off the I have already read stories like this vibe. I can see that the main character is going to become annoying rather quickly if I read the other volumes available at my library. He is impulsive and rude and impolite to his friends / co-workers and apparently things might go wrong when he does his own thing it never actually hurts him it all "just works out." At this point that is an old annoying cliche. Hence only four stars.
It is kind of funny that I have heard of Black Cat and To Love Ru but never made a connection between them until I added this to my to read list on this site. Looks like Kentaro Yabuki This is a classic manga that I wanted to check out a while back but didn't get around to until just recently turned out to be a fun read in general for an opening volume. With the story set in a world of criminals and bounty hunters there are certain science fiction elements, super human abilities, and general mischief that make the story unique in its own ways rather then being focused on a darker path of a noir. I am sure given time we will see plenty of humor and drama as each character gets a chance to grow and the Black Cat possibly growing ever closer to his ultimate target.
This was a great manga. I love how it wasn't to slow like it was in the beginning. I absolutely love all of the cat puns in this volume. I cant wait to read the next volume because this was such a great book.
this is really typical anime with see-through characters and a plot that moves at a too fast pace. train apparently has some dark past but they purposefully don't talk about it so you keep reading kind of ??? anyway train is lik some weird mary sue character that's just a mixture of all shounen anime tropes and you can tell the author just really wanted to make a likable character. pretty much no one has a set personality they change every five seconds.
I read this series for the first time so long ago that I'd forgotten much of it by now. It's nice to experience it for the what feels like the first time, while also affirming that it's still as good as what little I remember of it. Black Cat is charming and funny, with an interesting story to tell, a great art style, and dynamic characters. It checks pretty much all the boxes a manga needs to check in order for me to enjoy it. That list can fluctuate from manga to manga, and isn't an exact science for me, (manga is such a different beast from a comic or a novel) but I'm enjoying Black Cat as much as I remember enjoying it so many years ago. I can't wait to keep reading.
The first four chapters of this look to be setting up a generic bounty hunter story about this ex-assassin who's just so super good at his job. And then in the back half it turns into a super-powered heist story and starts to get interesting. It's off to a slow start but the art is neat and the characters are likable enough.
I want to know why this dude is so committed to being a catboy that he wears a collar with a bell on it and goes to bars to order milk as a drink. It's cute but... why?
Definatley one of my favorite series, there's enough action to keep it intresting without being too much drama. Train is an intresting hero with plenty of quirks to keep readers laughing. I also like how the author has a strong main plot, but often breaks away for the side adventures the bounty hunters encounter.
Heyatımda birinci defedi comics oxuyuram. Başlıyanda 'ayallah niye beyenirler ki, bu comicsleri?' fikirleşirdim, üreyim üzüle-üzüle oxuyurdum. Ama biraz sora oha dedim. Adam yapışıb qalır :D ikinci hissesini tapa bilmek çetin olacaq mene ama axtaracam. I love black cat :D 206 sehifedi, aralıqlarla 3 saata bitirdim :d
OMG, before of anything, this drawings are so beautiful, like really beautiful. In the beginning it's a little stopped, but just like that everything changes and new characters are introduced. I really like it and leaves the sensation of "what's going to happen next?". I can't wait to start the next volume!
I really enjoyed this manga. It was the first one I've ever read so it was a bit confusing but once I got into it I really like it. I loved the characters as their relationships but the plot felt a bit rushed and confusing. I'm definitely excited to read more in this series.
ooo okay so this is kinda interesting,, he’s working against his old boss and lost a partner, did that other dude die tho he was cool :( I’m interested to see where this goes